As a fan of quirky platformers, I had to give Jet Kave Adventure a shot at PAX West. I mean, how can you go wrong when you combine jetpacks and cavemen, and toss in a bunch of prehistoric pests and alien menaces? Well, it’s possible, but thankfully I can confirm Jet Kave Adventure mostly stuck the landing.
You play the banished chief of a tribe of cavemen, the titular Kave. After you’re ungraciously tossed aside, you stumble upon an alien craft. Like any good caveman, you rush it to attack, and get promptly taken down. Thankfully, you’re not killed, and when the alien astronaut wanders away to search for a power source for his grounded ship, he leaves some tech behind. You quickly touch it and suddenly the alien jetpack interfaces with you, and you’re off to the races.
There’s a lot of silly fun to be had, jumping, dashing with your jetpack and swinging your club at foes. The game has a lot of replay value for completionists too, with some 36 stages and secrets, though you’re more than welcome to just blast through each stage. Jet Kave Adventure also features boss fights and special events, such as using a glider in some sections. There’s a lot of diversity, and that’s great. Better yet, Jet Kave Adventure is a Switch exclusive, slated to release in just a couple short weeks. The bad news is, there’s still some rough edges.
When the game worked, it was great, but there were several instances things didn’t work exactly as intended. I would try and do a double jump, and instead end up falling into a pit. Or I would try wall jumping up, and not find the right momentum to keep going up. It’s just not always as intuitive and as tight as I’d like. I don’t enjoy pointing out problems, but I always believe in helping developers fix things with tough love. And to be fair, most of my time with the demo was a lot of fun. I just fervently hope these issues are ironed out before the release date. But if you’re a fan of platformers and want some silly fun, I’d check out Jet Kave Adventure.
